94 Four-in-Hand in Britain. 



One perfect gem outweighs a thousand mediocre per- 

 formances and makes its creator immortal. The world 

 has not a second Gray's Elegy among all its treasures. 

 Nor is it likely to have. We found you still in your 

 accustomed place. 



The manor house of Stoke Pogis, which took its 

 name from a marriage, away back in the 13th cent- 

 ury, between a member of the Pogis family and an 

 heiress, Amiciade Stoke, furnished the subject of Gray's 

 " Long Story," a poem known now only to the curious 

 student of English literature. How fortunate for the 

 world that the poet did not let his reputation rest 

 upon it ! 



The old house, built in the time of good Queen 

 Bess on an older foundation, is still more noted as the 

 home of Sir Edward Coke, the famous Lord Chief Jus- 

 tice and the rival of Bacon. Li 1601 Coke, who had 

 married three years before a wealthy young widow. 

 Lady Hatton of Hatton House, the daughter of Lord 

 Burleigh, entertained the Virgin Queen at Stoke 

 Pogis in a manner befitting the royal dignity and the 

 length of his own purse. Among other presents which 

 her Majesty graciously deigned to accept at the hands 

 of her subject on the occasion was jewelry valued at 

 ;^i,ooo, a large sum in those days. 



Coke's marriage did not turn out very happily. He 

 was old enough to be his wife's father, and she always 

 affected for him the utmost contempt, even forbidding 



